Terminology

Written by Alec Fearon on 30 June 2025 in Anapoly Diary
Transparency label: Human-only
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Terminology was a vexed topic in our recent discussion. It dawned on me that smarter people than us must have faced this problem too, and sure enough Perplexity took me to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the US Department of Commerce.

Their paper AI Use Taxonomy, a Human-Centered Approach offers a good way forward. We have adopted it and updated our Lab Framework accordingly.

NIST also floated some terms that could help us think about the value of the outcomes from our work.

Usability: the extent to which a system, product or service can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use.

Human-centred quality: the extent to which requirements for usability, accessibility, user experience and avoidance of harm from use are met.